Art Quilt Challange

The third Sunday of every month, I hang out at Ruby Street Quiltworks with the RAQ, the Ruby Street Art Quilters.  A few months ago, a fellow group member brought in a whole stack of doilies she had got from a family member, and it became our next challenge.  I had an idea immediately -- an RV!!  Who knows where this idea came from...I think it turned out SUPER CUTE!!

Do you see the doily along the sides of RV?

But then, I read the challenge rules a little closer -- I'm not such a great rule-follower when it comes to sewing. ;)  It was supposed to be a flat item, somewhere around 12" square, so I had to make a back-up/secondary project.  I really like it too!  So, I've had fun lately...I love challenges like this.

It's really not as lumpy in real life...I'm off to sew up my next project!!

Another entry!

Before Christmas, I found this great book called "Modern Bee:  13 Quilts to Make With Friends" and I promptly bought three copies -- one for me, and one for each of my two quilting friends.  Because, how perfect is that?!?  THEN I found that the first project in the book, the Mosaic Tiles Quilt, had a Quilt Along going on!  I hope I've figured out how to enter the Quilt Along, but I have no idea...these contest things aren't very clear, I've found...

OK, so my husband just got a great new job that will involve us traveling more and flying stand-by.  This is so great and we feel so blessed, but at the same time, not checking our luggage is creating some stress for me -- how big can those bottles be?  and a quart-sized bag?  TSA's website has become my new friend because I like to make sure I'm following the rules.  But what if I follow the rules and my bag still gets searched?  Here was my first thought: I don't want anyone to see my undies or have them fall out of my bag!  My husband said that he felt I might be the only person who is worried about this, but I'm ignoring him :) and I used the Mosaic Tiles Quilt Block to make myself a bag to put INSIDE my suitcase that will house my unmentionables in a pretty fashion!

I used the bag pattern from the Winter 2014 issue of Modern Patchwork magazine.  I liked the bag, but not the block they used, so it was perfect.  First I made enough Mosaic blocks to make the size I'd need for the bag.

My favorite color is purple, and I had some great turquoise and purple fabrics to go with the purples.  I also got a chance to use my favorite gray polka dot, and a small piece of antique kimono silk that I'd collected somewhere along the way.  The back of the piece I quilted is a gorgeous piece of cotton lawn that is left over from a dress I made in high school.  It's so soft and luxurious, so it was the perfect bag-insides for a skivvies-carrier...I quilted some waves, and then I quilted some straight lines.  I didn't do much quilting because I used so many favorite fabrics -- I wanted the fabrics to be the focal point, not the quilting...

Then I made the bag, and I'm very pleased with it!

 It's much bigger than I expected, which means if my husband is nice, I might put his underwear in my bag to hide them, too...but only if he's good. ;)

FINISHED!!

My cat quilt for the Riley Blake Challenge with the Modern Quilt Guild is finished!  For whatever reason, when I saw these fabrics, I totally thought "cats", especially the orange swirly one -- looked and acted exactly like my Gracie:  lots of energy and orange-on-white!  I've titled it "Cats I Have Known", and the names of all the cats in my life are included in the quilting.  I love how it came out, and I can't wait to enter it...give me a couple minutes to figure out the unclear entry area...

Gracie approved!

The WHOLE quilt!

Up close...

Up close...

Each cat has a name of a cat I've known quilted on it...

Each cat block is quilted differently,
cuz, you know, all cats have different personalities...

Holiday break, how I miss you...

Oh, Holiday Break, how I miss you.  January 3, my last post, was so long ago, and I was coming off such a great time of sewing.  Then, the quarter started, after the change in the GED test, and all of a sudden I have no time for sewing.  All of my time is being spent writing new curriculum for my class that has to be new because of the test's change...

To keep myself from TOTALLY being in a "woe-is-me" mood, I've been taking pictures of projects I have hanging around my house...you know, so I remember that I can sew, even if I'm not actually doing it...

Here is the wall-hanging I made for my laundry room...I mean, doesn't every laundry room need a quilt on the wall??

I LOVE the quilting on this wall-hanging.  It makes it feel so airy...

Hopefully this weekend, while my hubs is out of town, I can get in some sewing time...

If I do, I'll be sure to take pictures...

This pattern designing stuff is addicting...

I've had two more pattern ideas, so I'm working on writing the patterns.  Then, I'll make a sample to test my instructions, plus have something to photograph for the cover.  I wish I had them done today -- it's a gorgeous, GORGEOUS sunny day outside today!!

I'm also working on the baby quilt I talked about the other day.  I'm loving how it's coming out.  SO SO cute!!  This is not my final arrangement -- I'm just putting them up on the design wall as I finish them so I can admire my work.  Right now I pretty much only have low-volume blocks done.  At the bottom of the cut-fabric-stack are some brighter, louder-volume fabrics.  So, those blocks are coming...this quilt will definitely be a mix of things.

Back to work!

Another baby quilt!

I've been playing around with Instagram, and trying to post things there.  What I like is that my camera still backs up the picture to Dropbox, but it doesn't keep the Instagram-iness, i.e. the changes in tone and color.  Oh, well...it's still fun.  

I've been working on a quilt for a friend who's having a baby and it's going well, I think!  I found the tutorial for the blocks on Pinterest on the blog Little Bluebell for a Stargazer quilt, and it led me to this great blog, Happy Zombie, home of the original block.  I'm not going to do borders around each block -- just the blocks up next to each other.  I'm loving how they're turning out.  They're so fast!  I have some directional prints, but I've decided that I don't care for them to stay going the same direction, and the randomness is super cute, too.  Below is a blue and yellow stripe with gray star points...I'll show the quilt once I've given it to the baby's Mommy and that way it will stay a surprise.

The shower is in a couple weeks -- hopefully I'll get it done before then!  HA!  That's always the challenge, isn't it?

And then there was 28...

Somehow I ended up making 28 of my snowflake blocks...I thought that a 7 by 4 block quilt might look funny.  Electric Quilt confirmed it:

Yes, I have an old, old version of EQ.  Don't judge me.  I didn't like the upgrade way back when, so I went back to EQ4 because it makes sense to me.

So, as I still have an embarrassingly tall pile of snow fabric, I'm making more blocks...

Luckily, as this is a SNOW fabric quilt, and not a CHRISTMAS fabric quilt, I don't feel any pressure to get it done anytime soon.  I think as long as it's finished before Thursday, March 20, 2014, I'll be ok.  (That's the first day of spring, FYI.  In the land where it is really dark and rains a ton, I keep track of things like that...)

This is where I belong...clearly...

This is my spot.  Obviously.  The serger and I are old pals, even though it sounds like a vacuum machine.
So, you know, I just sit here and hang out with my friend.  

Last minute gifts

I know I'm not the only one who does this to myself...but these last minute gifts are killing me...One done...

yup, it's another tree skirt...I'm addicted to my own pattern...

One to go...

and it's 60" x 80".  Sigh.  I have no idea how it got that big...

OK, I'm off to buy more batting.

LOOK! I made it happen!!

I updated my tree skirt pattern!

And it's on my etsy site, in two formats, and in limited availability at Ruby Street Quiltworks.




I say "limited" cuz it keeps selling out!  :)  

I'm also going to teach a class on it!!  OMG, this is so exciting!!

So, needless to say, I'm writing more quilt patterns.  HA!!

Man, these are fun...

I may have created a monster by starting these Lil Twister blocks...I have just a few started...

look how tall that pile is!!  

and that doesn't count the ones I've got finished...

and the ones I need to add borders to and then cut out.

I hope to make a quilt PLUS some Christmas gifts out of them.





I already have my labels for the back ready.

"Sew" much fun!  I'm a cheese-ball, I realize this...

I'm probably behind and out of fashion, but I'm doing it anyway...

After, like, more than 12 years of working in fabric stores in my teens and twenties, I haven't worked in one for a while now.  Hence, I'm out of fashion.  There's no better way to stay on-trend in the quilting world then working at a quilt shop, and being there on days the product reps come to sell their new stuff...So, I was at a quilt shop, and found this little ruler called a Lil Twister.  Have you seen this?  It's freakin' awesome, and the sales lady demo'ed how easy it was in the store.  I've had it for a while, and haven't tried it yet -- so this weekend, I DID it!  I didn't trust that I'd 1) remember how to use it, or 2) that it would be as easy to use as advertised...but holy cow, IT WAS!!!

For years I've been inexplicably collecting fabrics with snow and other snow-related items -- snowmen, snow angels, snow scenes...the pile was getting embarrassing large, especially considering I didn't have a CLUE what I was collecting them for.  I mean, how much snow fabric can one woman have?  I was trying to answer that question apparently...The finished little blocks with this ruler looked a little like snowflakes to me, so when I saw the ruler, this is what I planned to use it on -- hack up some snow fabric, and make it seem like I had a plan all along.  HA-HA!  Triumph!

OK, so, first I made 5" square four patches, with a border around the outside.  I had a bunch of different sized white/light solid scraps, so I'm using those up.  The 2.5" strips were a little narrow for this, but the 3" strips are working out better.

Then, I laid the Lil Twister on the blocks I made, lining up its lines, and started to cut around it.

It's important to keep the blocks in order.  This was sort of the hardest part -- sometimes I'm good at organization, and sometimes I'm not.  Saturday, when I was doing this = not so much.  So I had to be really aware...

After a while, your quilt block starts to look like Swiss cheese...When you line up the squares, they start to make this little twist, see it? Then I just sewed them together into a twisty little 9 patch...

Here is my finished block:  

Seriously, I had three blocks in about 20 minutes.  In fact, I made a whole stack of 4 patches, and I plan to keep going...as I said, I have lots of fabric that I didn't have a plan for...Of course, NOW, I have a huge stack of these quilt blocks that I don't have a plan for...well, I'm deciding that that's a better pickle to be in than just fabric.  HA-HA!  Another TRIUMPH!  

I'm telling you -- super easy...and totally from the "I wish I'd thought that up" file...coolest ruler I've seen in a while.